Chapter 9: A Rogue and His God
“One more step toward him, and I’ll shove that staff up your ass!” Yana jumped between me and Jax, throwing a direct threat at the mage.
Jax looked bewildered. Scratch that – everyone did. But before things could escalate any further, a chilling howl echoed from the depths of the tomb, and the Undead Wolves appeared, right on cue.
***
[+318 XP]
The system message popped up after I finished the wolf again, recreating the exact same fight Yana and I had with it last time. Only this time a lot cleaner.
I glanced at the Déjà vu system menu.
[Déjà vu System: Level 2]
[Loop Count: 3]
[Experience Points (XP): 668 / 1100]
Halfway to the next level. Just need to avoid the Grave Moles this time. They’re clearly too strong for me right now. There’s no way I managed to fight them in my previous runs.
But as my XP bar showed this morning, I likely scored some other kills after the wolves. This one gave me 318 XP, and each of the eight Undead Warriors I’d slain earlier granted me 34 XP. That’s 590 XP in total. Which means I earned an additional 170 XP before I died.
And I’m a hundred percent sure it wasn’t from the Grave Moles. There’s no way a single mole would give anything less than what the wolf did.
I looked at the remnants of the battlefield. Stephan Lorren had once again decided to analyze the locked entrance of the tomb instead of actively participating in the fight, leading to the same seventeen adventurers losing their lives - again.
Once the battle ended, Lady Mikaela paced furiously toward him.
“Lorren!” she shouted, her voice booming just like it did last time. “You better have a good reason for not helping!”
The mage turned to her, his expression calm, completely dismissive of the tension. “I was analyzing the entrance.” He replied nonchalantly. “This dungeon is clearly not normal. We need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Did you have to do it while we were getting attacked?” I interjected, making sure everyone knew I was placing the blame squarely on him.
He raised his eyebrow at me, his gaze condescending. “And who are you, exactly?”
Before I could answer, Lady Mikaela interrupted. “He’s right! You should’ve helped first!”
“What do you think I was doing, if not helping?” he snapped back. “Getting out of here should be our top priority, and if figuring out a way for us to escape isn’t considered ‘helping’, then I don’t know what is!” he paused, his eyes flaring with anger. “Or do you, Mikaela, or this guy” - he gestured sharply toward me - “think you can unlock powerful magical enchantments on your own?”
Lady Mikaela’s rage seemed to cool slightly. “Still – “
“Still what? Still what, Mikaela?” Lorren cut her off, his voice tense. “Do I need to remind you that you are the reason we’re in this mess in the first place? The blood of those adventurers is on your hands alone!”
His words visibly shook her, and Aric Kelltins stepped forward, clearly intending to defend his guild master’s honor. “Master Lorren, I was here with Lady Mikaela when we explored the dungeon for the first time. I guarantee you that what she says is true. We didn’t encounter such strong enemies during our initial exploration.”
Stephan Lorren sighed heavily before replying. “I apologize, Mikaela. Let’s just focus on the doors.”
I couldn’t help but notice how insincere his apology sounded.
Lady Mikaela seemed to collect herself. “I hope you found something useful.”
He nodded. “Of course I did. I can open this door, but I’ll need time. Everyone needs to cover me while I work through the enchantment.”
Lady Mikaela shook her head, visibly angry with him, but she kept her composure. “How much time do you need?”
Stephan Lorren shrugged, utterly indifferent. “As much as you can give me.”
“No! What the hell?” I burst out, surprising even myself. It was my first time meeting the legendary Stephan Lorren, and I couldn’t believe he was such a manipulative liar. He was at fault for not helping during the battle, and now, after shifting the blame to Lady Mikaela, he was trying to play the role of the savior. He probably already knew the door needed a Keystone to open.
Lorren’s gaze turned to me, blazing with fury. The stone on top of his staff glowed yellow, and suddenly I was bound by invisible chains, completely immobilized.
[Condition Applied: Rooted by “Binding Force” used by Stephan Lorren]
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Then, the stone shifted to a purple hue, and an ethereal blade of the same color materialized beside my neck.
“You clearly have something personal against me.” Lorren said through gritted teeth. “Are you here to kill me? Who sent you?”
“Kill you? Are you insane?” I retorted, wincing as the chains tightened pressure around me, constricting painfully.
Yana stepped forward, starring Lorren straight in the eye. “Release him now!”
He rolled his eyes at her demand. “Stay out of this.” But Yana didn’t move an inch.
Lady Mikaela interjected sharply. And in our favor. “Release him this moment, Lorren. You’re acting like a lunatic. I doubt anyone would send a level 50 Spellsword to assassinate you.”
His face twisted at her words, and I felt the chains’ pressure around my body spike before they abruptly vanished, releasing me of Lorren’s hold.
[Condition Applied: No Longer Rooted]
“Count yourself lucky, and don’t ever cross me again.” His words were like ice.
“That freaking asshole.” Yana muttered, helping me to my feet. Then she caught my gaze. “But you have to tell me what’s going on with you. You’re acting weird.”
I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth…but maybe, if I found a roundabout to go about it, it would be okay?
“Follow me.” I said, pulling her to the side, away from prying ears, while Lady Mikaela organized the defensive formation next to the entrance, giving Stephan Lorren the time he “needed”. No threats were going to appear for the time being, so I knew we weren’t really needed.
“What’s up?” she asked once we were far enough from everyone else.
“Promise not to think I’m crazy?” I asked, adding a weak, sheepish smile.
She nodded, her expression serious. “I promise.”
“And promise you won’t press for answers if I tell you I can’t explain something?”
She hesitated, her gaze steady, before nodding slowly. “I promise. I trust you.”
I took a deep breath. “Listen, don’t ask me how I know this, but in a few minutes, when Stephan Lorren says he needs a Keystone to open the doors, he and Mikaela will leave with the high-leveled adventurers, leaving us weaklings with Kelltins behind as easy prey for some nasty and extremely strong Grave Moles and Void Spiders. Many adventurers will die here.”
Yana stared at me, confused, but still seemed to consider my words seriously. Good – this was more than I could have hoped for.
“Aidan…” she whispered, her brow furrowing. “I don’t even know what to say. If you somehow learned about this, then we need to warn the others.”
She turned to leave, and I grabbed her hand. “No, we can’t.”
She looked back at me, puzzled. “What do you mean, we can’t?”
“I can’t explain why.” I said, shaking my head. “Just trust me when I say we can’t. It might…change things too much.”
“Change things too much? What does that even mean?” she asked.
I hesitated, my mind racing. Should I tell her more? But then, recalling Chronos’ words, I decided against it. “I can’t tell you.” I murmured.
“Aidan…” she said softly. “Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not about trust.” I replied quickly. “The fact that I’m even telling you this much proves that I trust you. I just…can’t say more. Please, trust me on this.”
She sighed, rubbing her temples in frustration. “Okay.”
“No, promise me you won’t tell about this to a soul.” I pressed.
“Okay, okay, I promise.” She finally relented. “What do we do, then?”
I froze. I hadn’t expected her to accept my words so easily, and I didn’t have a plan. Yet. I just wanted her to know so she’d be wary and safe.
She took my silence as an answer. “So, your suggestion is to let things play out, even though we know what’s going to happen? Why even share this information with me if we’re not going to do anything and you don’t even have a plan?”
She turned away abruptly and left.
“Yana, wait.” I called after her, but she didn’t stop.
“Great…” I muttered under my breath.
“Spellsword.” A familiar voice whispered from behind me. Confused, I turned to see Goren, appearing from my shadow on the wall, his expression uncharacteristically alight. “How the hell did you learn what’s going to happen?”
I stepped back, suddenly unsettled by his presence. “Why were you spying on us?”
He shook his head, dismissing my question. “No, no, don’t act like you’re normal. You’re not. And we both know it.”
I swallowed hard.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said and turned to leave.
“You have the new system too, don’t you?” he said, stopping me in my tracks, sending a chill down my spine. His laugh followed soon after. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you act differently, so I guess you got it fairly recently, huh?”
I turned to face him, my heart pounding. “You have it as well?”
He nodded, his grin widening so much it seemed like the corners of his lips might reach his ears.
“How many times did you…you know…die?” I asked hesitantly, realizing it wasn’t the easiest question to ask.
“Fifty-eight times.” He replied quickly, still grinning. “But who cares about that? Did Dolos set you up for this?”
“Dolos?” I asked, confused.
He nodded, pointing upward. “God.”
I shook my head. Unless Dolos was an alias Chronos used, it wasn’t him.
“Interesting.” Goren said, rubbing his chin and pacing back and forth. “It means there’s another god at play here.”
“Another god?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Yes.” He replied. “What was his name? The one who gave you your new powers?”
I hesitated, unsure whether I should tell the truth. Eventually, I opted to lie. “I don’t know. Some guy with a metallic club. He didn’t exactly introduce himself.”
“Makes sense. Dolos is a piece of shit too.” Goren nodded, then his face suddenly lit up again. “This changes everything! This specific run was hard on me. I was already sick and tired of dying and reviving. Seemingly making no progress. I grow stronger each time, but this shitty dungeon started shifting itself lately, like it’s preparing for me, making my knowledge from past runs worthless.”
I let his words sink in. One thing was clear from his words - his system was leveled up enough for him to retain his memories.
He continued. “But you’re here now all of a sudden! That’s gotta be the key to our victory. Yes, that’s it. That’s the will of Dolos.”
“The will of Dolos…” I echoed. This bit made him sound like a religious fanatic. But who – or what - was Dolos?
He nodded ecstatically. “How about we team up? I’ll help you level up faster, and then we can take down Gaelith together and become the heroes of Tepan. The king might even grant us titles for bringing him so much gold!”
“Take down Gaelith together?” I asked, dumbfounded. “I literally just got one-shotted by a Grave Mole.”
“So what?” he shrugged. “It only happened ‘cause you’re crazy under-leveled.”
“No offense, man, but you’re just a level 57 assassin. I’ve seen you fight. You’re good - likely stronger than me - but not enough to beat the monsters here, let alone the boss.”
Goren chuckled. “What you’ve seen so far is a fraction of what I’m capable of thanks to the new system. You haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can do, so you don’t understand yet. Give it some time, and you’ll be slaying these Grave Moles left, right, center.” He extended his hand for a shake. “Let me help you.”
It was strange. Even though I should probably accept any help I could get, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling I got when I looked at Goren. Something was off about him, so I hesitated to take his hand.
He smirked. “What? My class got you all riled up?” He lowered his hand. “You’ll agree to team up eventually, but until then, it looks like I’ll just have to earn your trust.” He began strolling back to the others, his hands clasped behind his head as if he were lounging in a field. “I’ll keep my eye on you from now on.”